The Preobrazhensky Regiment was officially founded in 1690 by Tsar Peter I, and was named after the village where its barracks were located, Preobrazhenskoye, which is now a district of Moscow.

In the 1690s the two regiments had about 600 soldiers between them, making them a small fraction of the total Russian army, and they participated in large scale exercises together with the Streltsy.

[4] In the summer of 1695 Tsar Peter made the decision to resume Russia's war against the Ottoman Empire, which had started years earlier.

The regiment operated as the body-guard of the Grand Duchess Yekaterina Alekseevna as well as the main supporter of her bloodless 1762 coup against her husband Emperor Peter III; having become Empress Catherine II (r. 1762–1796) she declared the Preobrazhensky highest in the order of military precedence from 14 July 1762.

In spite of its distinguished record, part of one battalion of the regiment mutinied in June 1906, at a time of general unrest in the Russian Empire.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, officers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment were young Russian aristocrats and appointment was considered a proof of loyalty to the government and the tsar.

[12] For the Preobrazhensky Regiment conscripts were selected for their height and fair hair (in order to provide a standardised appearance on parade).

[15] Throughout its history the regiment wore the standard uniform of the Infantry of the Imperial Guard, which from 1683 to 1914 was predominantly of a dark green (eventually verging on black) colour.

The main distinctions of the Preobrazhensky Regiment were the red facings (plastron, collar, cuffs and shoulder straps) edged in white piping.

Distinctive regimental patterns of braid (litzen) were worn on the tunic collar, plus the tsar's monogram on the soldiers' shoulder straps and officers' epaulettes.

[17] During World War I the Preobrazhensky Regiment retained the distinction of white edgings on the khaki-grey field uniforms adopted in 1909 (see illustration of commanding officer and senior ncos opposite).

Intended to commemorate a period during the reign of Peter the Great when the regiment served on board ship as temporary marines, this unit provided rowers for members of the Imperial Family when embarked on ceremonial barges on the Neva.